1
review

Released in the mid 1970s, this was the first string synth from Roland to feature what was to become their much-loved Ensemble/Chorus. One might not expect much from a single sawtooth oscillator, but with the divide-down circuitry, it is fully polyphonic. There are three presets - Strings I, Strings II, and Brass - each on switchable rocker tabs. There are also some simple envelope controls (a tab switch for soft or hard attack, and sliders for release time which they've labelled "Decay"), two basic Low-Pass Filters ("Tone" - one for Strings I & II, the other for the Brass), and LFO ("Vibrato" - which has a fixed rate, but sliders for adjustable depth and delay).
The keyboard has a fixed split-point dividing the bottom 2 octaves and the top 3. All presets are independently adjustable for each half as are the soft/hard attack switches and the release controls. There's also an attenuation tab switch for each half so that one half can ply softer or louder than the other.
All of this topped off with that sumptuous Ensemble effect, and it makes for a refreshingly versatile stringer.